Toshiba Satellite E45t-A4300 Review and Ratings

Editors’ Rating:

Our Verdict:
Toshiba's 14-inch ultrabook is a good buy at $699, but it lacks that zing that gets us enthused about more elite ultrabooks (like the company's own Portege and KiraBook) and convertibles. Read More…

Toshiba Satellite E45t-A4300 Review

Introduction & Design

Can an ultrabook be a bargain? Intel's latest requirements for the ultrabook platform, codenamed "Shark Bay," dictate some fairly premium features, ranging from a fourth-generation Core processor and at least 80MB/sec storage throughput to touch screen capability and voice command support.

And most vendors offer at least one premium-priced and -configured ultrabook, such as Toshiba's magnesium-alloy KiraBook or Lenovo's carbon-fiber ThinkPad X1 Carbon. Admittedly, we've been a little spoiled by such machines. Since reviewing the Acer Aspire S7-392-9460 and Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus, we've grown accustomed to profiles as sleek or sleeker than Apple's MacBook Air, system weights under three pounds, and high-resolution displays—not to mention prices of $1,000 and up.

Which means Toshiba has set itself quite a challenge with the Satellite E45t-A4300, a 4.4-pound ultrabook that carries the company's mainstream Satellite label rather than its upscale KiraBook or Portege brands. With a 14-inch touch screen, DTS-blessed audio, and an aluminum body design that's perhaps more than accidentally reminiscent of the MacBook, the E45t costs $699 at Best Buy at this writing in late January 2014.

That's just $20 more than Best Buy charges for our favorite affordable ultrabook, Lenovo's IdeaPad U430 Touch, yet the Toshiba comes with all the "Shark Bay" trimmings such as Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) and Nuance Dragon voice control (for simple commands, not full-fledged dictation) software. It's also right in the budgetary sweet spot for consumers seeking something trimmer and lighter than the mostly chunky 15.6-inch laptops that hog the under-$500 spotlight.

The E45t seeks to look premium while hitting a mid-level price. Let's dig in and see if Toshiba's play for the middle actually hits a bull's-eye.

Design

With its rounded corners and fingerprint-proof brushed aluminum surfaces, the E45t takes the safe road on style. Toshiba's design lacks the rugged, bulletproof feel of a MacBook unibody, but neither is it unattractive. The only decoration on the outer lid is Toshiba's logo, tastefully muted in mirrored chrome against the silver backdrop. The bottom panel is black plastic, featuring six air vents and lateral texturing possibly meant to make the surface less slippery.

Toshiba does a clever visual trick to make the 13.4 by 9.2 by 0.8-inch Satellite seem slimmer than it is: The aluminum edging around the sides tapers to be wider at the back and narrower at the front while the black bottom wraps gradually up around the side. The measured thickness of the notebook stays constant, but because your eye follows the line of bright silver, it seems to get thinner.

The MacBook famously scoots its keyboard quite close to the LCD hinge, leaving loads of wrist rest space. Toshiba follows the conventional PC design by leaving the power button as a big, white-backlit circle between the right hinge and the keybed and narrowing the wrist rest space a bit. It's comfortable enough, but the company cluttered our test unit's wrist rest with no fewer than four branding stickers, one of which included a QR code and another of which was applied crookedly.

By and large, the white LED-backlit keyboard is sturdy. The only place we found significant flexing was around the B and N keys and space bar. Thanks to the added space of a 14- rather than 13.3-inch design, Toshiba offers ample key spacing, and prolonged typing feels fine if you're OK with conventional chiclet keys. We actually prefer the higher resistance of the E45t's keys compared to the softer touch of Acer's S7.

All around, the E45t demonstrates Toshiba's habitually solid design. With cheaper units, you'll sometimes see the LCD glass pull away from the bezel when flexing the lid. There's none of that here. The E45t feels tough in its Everyman plainness. Our only complaint—and this is purely subjective—is that the angle of curve in the corners closest to the hinge is more obtuse than in the facing corners. These same angles are echoed in the frame of the touch pad. It gives the unit an asymmetry that we found visually annoying. Opinions may vary.